Love that Grounds Us (Ephesians 3:14-21)

Good morning! Please open your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 3. We are continuing in our series through Ephesians called Love Beyond Reason, and today we’re going to talk about what the kind of love that grounds us. No, I’m not talking about getting grounded. I’m talking about being grounded. Paul’s prayer for the Ephesian church was that they would be rooted and established in love. What does that mean?

Think of a tree. Its roots go deep into the soil to find the nourishment it needs to grow strong and healthy. A trees roots anchor it. Deep roots can help the tree withstand powerful storms. Just like that tree, we need something to sustain us and help us grow. Our nourishment comes from the love of God.

When we are deeply rooted in God's love, we can draw on his love for strength and sustenance.

When a church is rooted and established in love, the world will stand up and take notice, and the devil will back down and take cover.

So this morning, we are going to look at the prayer Paul prays for the church at Ephesus, and I’d like it to be our prayer as well.

Let’s read it together. This is Ephesians 3:14-21.

14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

This section begins with Paul telling the Ephesians what he is praying for when he prays for them. He says, “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named.” The Greek has a beautiful play on words here. The Greek word for father is pater, and the word for family is patria, which can also refer to fatherhood. So Paul is literally saying “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom all fatherhood. I bow my knees before the pater, from whom pas patria. A church that is grounded in God’s love recognizes that God is the father of all people. They are not all his children because they have not put their trust in the crucified, resurrected Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins, but they all have the potential to be adopted into God’s patria as his sons and daughters.

Paul says in verses 7-8 that God gave him the grace to preach to the Gentiles

the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9 and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things,

So a church that is rooted or grounded in God’s love understands that the entire reason for its existence is to preach the unsearchable riches of Jesus to all people. Verse 9: We are to bring to light God’s plan of salvation through the blood of Jesus, the death of Jesus, and the resurrection of Jesus.

Now I want to show you something in Verse 10 that will bake your brain. Paul says through the church, the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.

We are to proclaim the gospel so persistently and so faithfully and with such determination that God’s wisdom will be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.

If that phrase sounds familiar to you, its because of what Paul says later in Ephesians 6, when he tells us to put on the whole armor of God. He says in Ephesians 6:12

12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

See, Glynwood, we are being watched. We aren’t just being watched by people in our community. We are being watched in the spiritual realm as well. Whenever the church gathers, Satan and all his devils are forced to acknowledge that God won.

Every local church gathering anywhere in the world is a celebration of God’s eternal spiritual victory over Satan, sin and death at the cross. It’s when we get in Satan’s face and say,

“You can’t condemn us because our sins have been forgiven.

You can’t kill us because we have eternal life in Christ.

You can’t divide us because God is bringing all things together under the Lordship of Christ.

You can’t defeat us because faith is the victory that overcomes the world.

You can’t deceive us because we have been sanctified in the truth of God’s Word.

You can’t accuse us because Revelation 12:10 says that the accuser has been thrown out of heaven, overcome by the blood of the lamb and by the testimony of the saints. Every single Sunday the church stands up and says Not today, Satan!

In this passage, Paul prayed that the believers in Ephesus would experience four blessings of God’s love for them.

1. Strengthened with Power

The first is that they would be strengthened with power. Look again at Ephesians 3:16 (ESV)

16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being,

We need God’s power to strengthen us if we are going to take the gospel to all peoples. Notice that Paul prays for us to be strengthened with power through God’s Spirit in our inner being. This means that God’s power won’t be a visible or obvious strength to be paraded around. Think about Samson in the Old Testament. Usually when we picture Samson we picture this huge guy with long dreadlocks and bulging muscles, kind of like Jason Mamoa in Aquaman. But think about it. If he had looked like that, Delilah wouldn’t have asked “what is the secret of your great strength?” So I think maybe Samson looked like an ordinary guy. You know, most of the Paul would tell the church in Corinth that 2 Corinthians 4:7

7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.

2. Rooted and Established in love (3:17)

Next, Paul prays that the Ephesians would be rooted and established in love. Ephesians 3:17 says

17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love,

Christ dwells in our hearts through faith, and we are rooted and established in love.

Now, it is possible for us to be rooted in something other than the love of God. When someone says, “Tell me about yourself,” whatever the first thing is that comes out of your mouth is probably what roots you and grounds you.

Whatever gives you your identity, your purpose, and your sense of self is what you are rooted in. It could be your family. Your community. Your job. Your passion. Your political involvement. Your significant other. Your sexual orientation. Your leisure activities.

And this can be true for churches as well. When someone says “Tell me about your church,” what is the first thing you say?

A church can be rooted in a particular tradition or ritual. A great kids program. A certain worship style. doctrine and theology, programs and activities, social justice, political activism, a particular ministry.

None of those are bad things. But they are all secondary things. The first thing for a church to be rooted and established in is love.

Paul wrote:

“If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.” (1 COR 13:1-3).

Without love, all these efforts amount to nothing. If we are rooted in anything other than love we will be puffed up rather than built up.

But If we uphold all the traditions and rituals but miss the love of God, we are just following empty routines.

We could be rooted in doctrine and theology. We could understand all mysteries of the faith, but are not rooted in love, we become arrogant and divisive.

We could be rooted in programs and activities. But without love, we are merely busy without true connection.

On the other hand:

If we are rooted in love, our traditions and rituals become meaningful expressions of our faith.

If we are rooted in love, our doctrine and theology bring us together in understanding and compassion.

If we are rooted in love, our programs and activities build deep, lasting relationships.

If we are rooted in love, our involvement in politics and society fosters unity and justice without lobbing false accusations at the other side.

There is no fear in love! If we are rooted in love, our entire church will thrive in an atmosphere of freedom and peace.

Let’s keep going. Paul is praying specific blessings for the Ephesians. He prays first that they be strengthened with power through the indwelling of Christ. Second that they be rooted and established in love. Third, he prays that they will comprehend and height and depth of God’s love for them.

Paul paints a word picture of God’s love extending in four directions. Vertically: the height and the depth of God’s love, and horizontally— the length and the width of God’s love.

You’ve heard the song we’ve been using as the intro to this series— His love is deep, his love is high, his love is long, his love is wide.

Let’s look at all four of those dimensions.

How deep is God’s love?

Deep illustrates his sacrificial love. Paul has already celebrated the self-sacrifice of Christ for our sins on the cross: “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us” (1:7–8).

Have you ever really considered the depth of Christ’s in suffering not only the physical tortures of beatings and crucifixion, and the public humiliation of being strung up naked as a criminal to be mocked and abused, but the spiritual trauma of being separated from his heavenly Father? Have you stopped recently to realise that he accepted such depths of agony out of personal love for you?

A hymn from the 1800’s written by a man named S. Trevor Francis captures this so beautifully.

Oh, the deep, deep love of Jesus— Vast, unmeasured, boundless, free— Rolling as a mighty ocean In its fullness over me! Underneath me, all around me Is the current of His love— Leading onward, leading homeward To His glorious rest above.

“If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there” (Psalm 139:8).

How deep is God’s love? All the way down to the bottom of the abyss. Even if I make my bed in the lowest realm, God is there. That’s how deep God’s love is. We cannot go beneath it, even at our lowest points.

How high is God’s love?

High illustrates God’s exalting love. The love of God in Christ does not simply save us from hell, but lifts us high into heaven: Look back at Ephesians 2:6-7:

“God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus” (2:6–7).

Quick: what is the highest mountain peak on earth? That’s right. It’s Mount Everest. Anyone know how high? Right. 29,029 feet. That’s five and a half miles high. For reference, commercial airplanes fly at an average altitude of around 35,000 feet.

Now, take that highest point on earth— Mt Everest, and ask, how high is the sky above Mt Everest? Scientists say that the “height” of the universe, that is, the distance from earth to the very edge of the known universe, is 46.5 billion light-years away. That means that if you were traveling at the speed of light, which is 186,000 miles a second, it would take you 46.5 billion years to reach the “ceiling” of the universe.

God’s love for you is as high as that. Psalm 103:11 says,

“For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him”

How long is God’s love?

“Long” illustrates his lasting love. Paul has already celebrated the eternity of God’s love from before the foundation of the world to the eternal future forever: “In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ” (1:4–5).

Perhaps some of us have been painfully abandoned in the past by someone who promised to love us—a father, a husband or a girlfriend. The world is full of people who say “I love you”, but don’t mean it. Or perhaps we worry that he’ll give up on us because we’re just not changing enough, and we suspect he’ll get fed up with our constant failures. We need to grasp that his love for us is permanent. However badly and however often we disappoint him, he will never let us go. He has committed himself to love us from eternity past for eternity everlasting and will never, ever, ever, give up on us. His is a long and lasting love!

“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever.

Give thanks to the God of gods. His love endures forever.

Give thanks to the Lord of lords: His love endures forever.” (Psalm 136:1).

Friends, God’s love endures forever. His self-giving, agape love is not temporary. It’s not limited. It does not end when you die. Death does not cancel his love. His love endures forever. That’s how long God’s love is.

How wide is God’s love?

“Wide” illustrates his accepting love. Paul has already celebrated how the love of Christ embraces Jew and Gentile and anyone from any background who comes to him for mercy: “He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near” (2:17). Perhaps some of us are tempted to feel that we’re beyond the reach of his love—that our background is too immoral, or too poor, or too privileged, or too idolatrous, or too dysfunctional for us to be genuinely loved by Jesus. We need God’s help to grasp how wide the love of Christ is. If you are trusting in Christ, there is nothing you have done or could ever do that would put you outside his embrace. His is a wide and accepting love.

Psalm 103:12 tells us that

Psalm 103:12 (ESV)

12 as far as the east is from the west,

so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

So how far is east from west? That’s a little hard to say on a round globe, but the radius of the earth at the equator is 3,958 miles.

“Surely the arm of the Lords not too short to save…” (Isaiah 59:1).

How wide are God’s arm of salvation? No one is outside the breadth of God’s arms. No one, anywhere, at any time, has been beyond the nails of God’s wide-open arms on the cross that saves us and heals us.

Does this sound too good to be true? A.W. Tozer once said, “We cannot imagine him more wonderful than he actually is.” Anytime we think something is too good to be true about God, it’s actually better than that.

Brennan Manning said, “If you took the love of all the best mothers and fathers who ever lived — all the goodness, kindness, patience, fidelity, wisdom, tenderness, strength, and love — and united all those virtues into one person, that person would only be a faint shadow of the love and mercy God has for you and me.”

God’s love is “high and wide and deep and long”! It “surpasses knowledge.” It cannot be fully understood by human reasoning nor fully explained with human language. But still, we are to be “rooted and established” in it as a church, as a family, in our friendships.

4. Blessed more abundantly

Paul ends this magnificent prayer

B. God does immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine

Ephesians says, “God can do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine according to his power that is at work within us” (3:20). This means God can do things in you and for you that would blow your mind.

If you can ask for or imagine it, God can exceed it.God doesn’t answer our prayers reluctantly. He answers our prayers wanting to give you as much of Himself that you are willing to receive by faith. He wants to give you immeasurably more than you ask or imagine. “..to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus” (3:21).

God delights in over-delivering for his people. How does God like to give?

Jesus taught, "Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” Luke 6:38

The imagery here refers to the way grain was measured. When grain was measured out, a generous portion would be given by ensuring that the container was filled to capacity. It was filled-up and not puffed-up like our present-day bags of chips!

A good measure: This means giving more than the bare minimum, showing abundance and generosity.

Pressed down: This means the grain is not just loosely poured into the container, but is pressed down to make room for more. This guarantees that the measure is full, without gaps, symbolizing fullness and completeness.

Shaken together: Shaking the container allowed the grain to settle, making room for more grain. This emphasizes that the measure is not only full but compacted to hold even more.

Running over: This means an overflowing abundance, more than what the container can hold, indicating generosity and blessing.